Minnesota’s Growth Tops Nation’s

It made economic history: For the first time, Minnesota’s private sector has 2,504,400 jobs, surpassing 2.5 million jobs. The state exceeded 2 million private sector jobs in 1995.

Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted gain of 5,300 jobs in March put us over the top. What is not as well known is that our annual growth exceeded the nation’s for the first time in nearly three years.

Over the past year, the state has gained 48,162 jobs, a growth rate of 1.7 percent. To compare, U.S. job growth was 1.5 percent during the same period. For any sign of weakness in job growth, unemployment, wage gains, or labor force increases, you’d have to look very hard. We’re just not seeing it.